


Sanctuary

by Client327



Category: Ride or Die (Visual Novel)
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Blood, F/M, Gun Violence, Language, Major Character Injury, Oral Sex, Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:55:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22026682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Client327/pseuds/Client327
Summary: Logan wins and Sydney gets everything.
Relationships: Colt Kaneko/Main Character (Ride or Die), Logan/Main Character (Ride or Die)
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> PB owns all this, and me. Ok, super important: I know I usually write for Colt x MC, but this is not that. In fact this will venture into evil!Colt a bit (nothing graphic). This part doesn’t really go deep into it, but the next part will. This fic assumes that Sydney went to prom and slept with Logan, but then slept with Colt at the safe house and ended up with him.

There were a few more scratches and dings on the yellow Devore than before, but it was still as beautiful as she last remembered. Sydney’s heart was hammering in her chest as it grew closer and closer. She had one hand buried in the lush fabric of her wedding dress to keep it off the ground and the other tightly wrapped in Logan’s.

The car was parked three blocks away from the house and the mad dash that they had made was even more difficult to do in the designer heels that had been meticulously picked out for this day. Logan yanked the passenger side door open and quickly checked over his shoulder before helping her into the vehicle. They still had time to get away. He took a moment to carefully gather the elaborate train of her dress and tuck it neatly into the car before closing the door.

They had to get out of here fast. The tires let out a screeching wail as Logan pushed the pedal to the floorboard and whipped around the next corner. He spared a glance at Sydney. The wind from the window was destroying the elegant updo that her hair had been expertly styled in and her veil thrashed around her face until being ripped out the window. She stuck her head out the window to watch it float away, but made no effort to grab for it.

When she sat back in her seat she turned to him with the wildest smile he had ever seen on her face. Logan took her hand in his and gently rubbed his thumb over her soft skin, “Do you trust me?”

She beamed at him, feeling more at peace than she had in a long time, “With my life.”

This is not how she imagined her wedding day going…on the run from the groom.

***

Life hadn’t quite turned out the way that Sydney had thought that it would when she impulsively jerked the steering wheel to her car and made a u-turn back in the direction of Los Angeles. Something had fundamentally changed in her during her time with the Mercy Park Crew and she knew that it would gnaw away at her if she didn’t explore that side of her more.

That was three years ago, and now she felt like she was in so deep that there was no way out. She had done things that would haunt her for the rest of her life. Most days she felt like Colt was the only person that knew the things she had done and could still love her. But maybe that was just what he wanted her to think.

Sometimes the distinction was lost on her.

Her life had isolated her from friends and family that would never understand the choices that she had made in life. Colt had been there for her when she told her dad that she dropped out of college and when her friendship with Riya had fallen apart. That first year spent with him was often the anchor that kept her here; memories of how sweet and supportive Colt could be when he wasn’t on a warpath would overshadow his misdeeds time and again.

But Colt was always on a warpath.

Their time together had been littered with jail time, life or death situations, fighting, and climbing LA’s ladder of power. They were currently on top, but it had come at a heavy price and it would never be enough for Colt. There would always be more, bigger, better and there was no line not worth crossing for it. He was possessed with a thirst for control that dwarfed everything else in his life.

Sydney didn’t fear him; she feared who she was when she was around him. Everything changed during the Huntington Park job, though. That was the first time that she didn’t recognize a single aspect of the man at her side, and the first time that she thought Colt might be irredeemable. But she had been there too and it would haunt her for the rest of her life. It would also put her in a position to need the MPC’s protection and resources more than ever. Worse still, Colt knew it.

***

Sydney looked out the large bay window of her dressing room as the dressmaker worked to fasten the last of the hooks on her wedding gown. She watched as row after row of people filed into the seats of her romantic backyard wedding. None of them were familiar.

“All done,” the dressmaker exclaimed after carefully securing the veil in place. “What do you think?”

She turned to look at herself in the full length mirror. Her wedding ensemble was stunning, flawless even. Everything was so pristine and meticulously placed. It was a stark contrast to how she was feeling on the inside, and the difference made her want to vomit.

“It’s beautiful. Thank you.” She forced a smile for the woman who really had done a fantastic job. It wasn’t her fault that this was all wrong.

Sydney looked around at her bridesmaids as they all put the finishing touches on their hair and makeup. She wouldn’t call any of them her friends; they were all either “colleagues” or Colt’s cousins. The sting of experiencing this day without Riya at her side made her heart ache. Did she even know that she was missing her wedding? Did her dad know?

She hadn’t been able to reach out to any of them in the longest time. The only person that she had kept some communication with was the person that introduced her to this whole world in the first place. Logan hadn’t been back to LA since the night of the Brotherhood takedown, but the two had taken to exchanging letters back and forth.

They weren’t very frequent due to Logan being on the road so much and the fact that Sydney rarely knew where she could send letters back to. He would try and leave an address at the bottom of his letter if he knew where he would be next, but that wasn’t often. Their letters were friendly, sharing stories and memories. Sydney had never quite been able to let him know just how bad things had gotten with Colt, how far gone he was. She felt embarrassed by how far she had let things get away from her, especially when so many people had considered her to be smart.

She definitely didn’t feel smart anymore.

No, she would rather Logan believe that everything had worked out exactly how she thought they would. It was her last spot of peaceful delusion that she would afford herself. But even he didn’t even know that she was getting married today.

Someone that Sydney didn’t even recognize popped their head into the room and announced that it was time for the ceremony to begin. She toyed with the enormous ring on her finger, straightened her shoulders and lined up to walk to her groom.

Colt looked flawless in his suit with the sun dancing across his face. The wind gently blowing through his hair reminded her of evenings lounging on the cliffs back when they were both hungry and ambitious. The way his eyes lit up when he saw her walking towards him made her stomach do flips. She kept her eyes locked on his as they danced over her figure and landed on her face. There was that signature smirk.

Maybe he could still be the Colt she fell in love with. Maybe this could work out. Maybe they could leave all this behind one day. Maybe that’s what he wanted her to believe.

***

Logan’s heart dropped into his stomach as Colt and Sydney exchanged their vows. Their words were muted by the sound of his erratic pulse, but he knew what they were; promises to love and cherish each other forever. Colt with Sydney forever.

He glanced around the elaborate backyard wedding. It looked like it was right out of a magazine with no expenses spared. It was a show of wealth. There were a couple hundred people in attendance; no doubt that some of LA’s most influential people were present. Logan thought he might throw up.

The sound of the ceremony came crashing back down around him as the words that he had been waiting for fell from the minister’s mouth. They were just a formality, he knew that, but today Logan would take them as his queue.

“Speak now or forever hold your peace.”

He looked up from his lap and locked eyes with Ximena in the crowd. His intentions must have been apparent by the sweat that created a thin sheen across his brow and by the surprised look on his face as if he couldn’t believe his own actions. Ximena shook her head “no”; Logan responded with that same boyish grin from years ago and shrugged as he stood to his feet.

He tugged the bottom of his nicest shirt before meeting Sydney’s shocked gaze. If he wasn’t so nervous he would have laughed at the way her eyes widened in surprise.

“I do. I have a laundry list of reasons this shouldn’t happen and so do you, Sydney.”

Logan was purposefully avoiding Colt’s direction, but the anger emitting from where he stood was suffocating. Instead he focused on Sydney. He would need to get her to come with him quickly if this was going to work out the way he planned.

He cast his eyes around the crowd, too aware of the murmurs that were gaining volume around him. “Can you honestly say this is what you want? I know you.”

Tears pooled at her perfectly done lash line and streamed down her rosy cheeks as she silently watched Logan take his stand. Men that were unmistakably hired security began to inch closer to him through the isles of people. It was now or never. He held out his hand and began taking slow steps backwards towards the exit.

Sydney bit her vibrant red lip and shook her head before dropping it. Now or never. She squeezed Colt’s hand that was still wrapped around hers and brought it to her lips, leaving a perfect print of her red lips on it. And then she let go. She knew he wouldn’t beg or make a scene in front of all these people.

Logan’s face lit up in disbelief and joy at the sight of Sydney hiking up her voluminous dress running towards him. He never took his eyes off of her as he continued to inch backwards closer to the exit. When her hand reached his, he finally looked Colt’s way. If looks could kill, indeed. Logan knew he just wrote a check for his bounty, but he couldn’t think about that right now.

He pulled her through the ornate archway that she was supposed to be walking through with Colt and turned to head through the parking area. Sydney struggled to keep the heels of her shoes from sinking into the lawn as she tried to wrap her head around what they had just done.

“Can you get us out of here?” Her voice was panicked and breathy.

“You know I can.” He turned to flash her a quick smile before slowing down to inch his way between two of four cars that were lined up to block the exit to the estate.

“Did you do this?”

“Just a little insurance.” He grabbed her on either side of her waist and hoisted her over the cars. She stumbled against him as he set her down and froze at the familiar way their bodies came together. Logan shifted the pressure from one fingertip to the next, reacquainting himself with the way she felt underneath each one.

Movement on the other side of the parking area pulled him from the trance, “We have to go.”

They took off again down block after block of houses surrounded by privacy fences and security cameras. They definitely weren’t in Gramercy Park anymore.

***

They drove fast and hard for the next several hours, neither one daring to voice their fears out loud. When Logan felt like he had put a significant enough amount of distance between them and Colt he pulled off the highway at a rest stop and turned the car off.

The adrenaline rush had finally caught up to him and he felt dizzy and nauseous, but not in quite the same way as before. He ran his hands over his face and through his hair.

“Are you alri-“ his question was cut off by Sydney’s lips on his. It was too forceful to be romantic and too meaningful to be passionate. It’s was a thank you, a desperate thank you.

When they pulled apart Sydney dropped her head against the seat of the car, “He’s going to kill you, you know?”

Logan took her hand, feeling like it was the only thing anchoring him to reality. All of this felt like a crazy dream. “He’s going to have to catch me first.”

“Do you have a plan?” She looked at him expectantly.

“I…have the beginnings of a great plan.”

“Logan! You embarrassed Colt in front of all those people at his own home and you don’t even have a plan? You know him. You know he already has one and probably three or four backups just in case.” Sydney was starting to panic just a little.

“I’m not afraid of him, and you shouldn’t be either. My plan is not to let anything happen to you. I don’t care what I have to do to accomplish that.” He watched as the tension melted from her shoulders. She really did trust him. “In the meantime, we are going to get as far away from LA as we possibly can.”

***

The sun had already set and began to rise again before they pulled into a motel that only the most desperate of travelers would stay at. Sydney was asleep against Logan’s arm. She really did make a beautiful bride even with the smeared makeup and wind-tousled hair. He rocked her shoulder gently, “Sydney, we’re stopping for the night.”

She sat up with a groan and looked around at their surroundings. The shady motel earned Logan a sharp glare causing him to laugh, “I know it’s not up to your current standard of living, but we need to stay on the fringe of society for a while.”

“I know. I know. I’m sure it’s not as bad as it looks.”

It was as bad as it looked. The lobby smelled…wrong, and the bottom of her shoes stuck to the floor with each step. Logan approached the surly looking receptionist and requested a room to be paid in cash, no names.

“You want the honeymoon suite?” Her gravelly voice matched her appearance in the most satisfying way.

“Uh..no. Just a standard room is fine.”

“Lucky bride…” she scoffed sarcastically as she looked Sydney over in her elaborate gown.

Logan followed her gaze, confused. The pieces clicked together, “Oh! No, we aren’t married. She…It wasn’t our…”

The receptionists expression grew less impressed with every start and stop of Logan’s explanation before sliding a key with a clunky keychain in his direction.

He gave her a tight smile and decided it wasn’t worth getting into. Sydney tried to hide her amusement when he turned to her, but the look on his face made her crack. Logan grabbed his bag off the ground and ushered her out of the lobby with a hand on the small of her back.

Touching her felt like second nature to him despite the short amount of time they had spent together. He felt at home by her side, he always had.

Sydney leaned into him, her last and closest friend, as they continued down the hallway that was drowning in the worst shades of green and gold. She felt comfortable in her own skin for the first time in too long and finally she thought she might have made a good choice.

They reached room 19, and Logan shifted his bag on his shoulder to unlock the door. The doorknob gave but the door itself caught on the frame. He twisted to give Sydney a reassuring smile before shoving his shoulder against the door once, twice before it swung open.

He could already tell that the odor was off and that the walls were paper thin. Neighbors could be heard screaming and arguing from every direction.

“Ladies first.” He held the door open for get and gestured for her to go in.

“Gee thanks,” she teased, but she knew that she really did have a lot to thank him for. The enormity of it hung in the air.

She tried the light switch without success before Logan braved the dark unknown to get to the lamp on the nightstand. It didn’t give off much light, but it wouldn’t matter soon enough when they both passed out from exhaustion.

“I’m going to shower before I lay down. There is like two cans of hairspray in my hair right now.” She looked around for a moment realizing that she didn’t have a single possession to her name. The thought brought tears to her eyes that she refused to give power to. “Do you have some clothes I could borrow? I don’t want to have to sleep in this thing.” She gestured down to her dress.

“Of course.” He hurried to his bag and rifled around for a tshirt and sweatpants that he handed to her.

“Thank you” she pressed them gently to her chest, clean clothes were now a valuable commodity. “Um, one more favor?”

“Anything,” he felt so confident in that promise that it took him off guard.

“Could you unfasten the hooks on the back of my dress? It took three people to get me into this thing, but I think I can manage it if you get them undone.”

He nodded and gestured for her to turn around for him. “Jesus Christ! There are a hundred hooks back here!” He pushed her hair over her shoulder. It was longer than he remembered.

Sydney laughed, “Hey, you said anything!”

“I can see now that that was a mistake,” but he had already started the work. “This thing is more like a straight jacket than a dress.”

“I think so too,” she agreed, but for very different reasons. It sucked all the energy from the room.

Logan finished up in silence as each tiny hook revealed another glimpse of Sydney’s golden skin. He wanted to run his palm down her spine and feel the warmth of her body beneath fingers. He stepped back instead.

“That’s all of them.”

“Thank you, Logan.” She held the dress up, pinned beneath her arm. “You don’t have to wait up for me. You must be exhausted after that drive.”

He didn’t have to respond. His eyes betrayed how close he was to falling asleep on his feet. When Sydney had disappeared into the bathroom and the shower screeched to life, Logan walked to the closest of the two beds and collapsed.

***

The hot water ran trails over her body until Sydney could feel it starting to get cooler. The events of the day still felt incredibly surreal to her. People don’t get whisked away from toxic relationships at the altar by former lovers in the real world, right? And what happens next? What happens when Colt finds them? He will find them eventually, she was sure of that.

She couldn’t think about that right now. Right now she felt unbearably light and high on the possibilities in front of her that she never thought she would see again. Maybe she would go to school after all. Maybe she would change her name and live on the road with Logan. Maybe she would call her dad.

Sydney felt like a new woman once she stepped out of the shower. All her layers of wedding day makeup had been washed down the drain and it felt magical to be able to rub her eyes again without the threat of smearing makeup all over the place. She slipped into Logan’s clothes and was immediately overwhelmed by the same familiar scent from years ago when she slept curled up at his side in Gramercy Park and dreamed about the future.

The vivid memories hit her like a tidal wave and she slid gently to the floor to let them drown her. Sydney pulled the collar of the shirt to her face and breathed it in. Pictures of dancing, driving, laughing, kissing, cuddling, and living wildly flashed through her mind like a movie. It was a movie about the way things could have been if she hadn’t been so stupid and so tempted by the boy on the motorcycle.

Tears fell, dotting the grey fabric of the borrowed sweatpants. How could she have been so wrong?

Sydney pushed herself off the floor and quietly tiptoed out of the bathroom. Logan had taken the bed closest to the door and was already fast asleep. She took a moment to really look at him. He was even more handsome than she remembered. His hair had fallen over his face and she desperately wanted to brush it away.

She turned towards the second bed and pulled the blankets back. It had been a long, emotional day and sleep was long overdue. The bed looked cold, suffocating. She hadn’t slept alone in years unless Colt had been away on a job, and she suddenly felt so alone. Wrapping her arms around herself she turned back towards Logan’s bed.

“Logan?” Her voice broke and the tears continued down her face. “Logan?” She tried to raise her voice to no avail.

Logan sat up quickly in the bed and looked around, “Is everything ok? Are you ok?”

She shook her head, “Can I sleep with you tonight?” She had barely gotten the words out before choking back her sob.

Logan moved over in the bed and pulled back the covers for her. Sydney crawled in beside him and wrapped her arms around his waist. The sensation made his heart accelerate, she was really here. He stayed frozen for a moment before resting back against the bed and wrapping his arms around her. He wasn’t exactly sure how he was going to get them out of this, but he felt unstoppable with her here beside him.

And besides rescuing the princess was half the work. All he had to do now was slay the dragon.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan wins and Sydney gets everything

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PB owns all this, and me. Ok, super important: I know I usually write for Colt x MC, but this is not that. In fact this will venture into evil!Colt a bit (nothing graphic). This part doesn’t really go deep into it, but the next part will. This fic assumes that Sydney went to prom and slept with Logan, but then slept with Colt at the safe house and ended up with him.

Colt sat in the decorative chair that Sydney insisted on having by the window in their bedroom. He was staring at the spot that used to be her side of the bed trying to piece together exactly when he had lost his bond with her. Their room was littered with the shattered remains of anything Colt could get his hands on to send sailing against the walls. Feeling bested and out of control were things he wasn’t accustomed to and it was eating him alive.

Everything seemed normal to him leading up to the wedding. He knew that she had a lot of reservations about the way he wanted to run MPC, but ultimately she had gone along with him. 

He had given her everything she could have possibly wanted, shared everything with her. And after all this time, it was still Logan that fucked everything up. He hadn’t even thought about him in years, maybe that was his mistake. His fists clenched tightly sending his fingernails into divots that had been permanent fixtures in the palms of his hands since the wedding. He felt betrayed and embarrassed as he remembered the faces of everyone in attendance staring at him alone at the altar. 

His time after the wedding was spent interrogating everyone she associated with to figure out how long this had been planned, but found that few people had any sort of confiding relationship with her at all. How could he have missed this?

His phone dinged in his pocket. He pulled it out and opened the app notification, watching as the red beacon moved with breakneck speed across the map. They were on the move again. Sydney trusted him more than he thought if she didn’t suspect that he was keeping tabs on her, or maybe she overestimated how much he trusted her. Regardless, she would unknowingly be leading him right to them soon enough. 

***

The smell of coffee gently seduced Sydney from her slumber. She opened her eyes, heart rate accelerating while taking in her surroundings. The covers fell from her body as she abruptly sat upright and looked around. Her eyes landed on a cup of coffee in a disposable cup sitting on the nightstand. A short note was tucked underneath that read “I hope it’s still hot when you wake up.”

Logan. 

She recognized the handwriting immediately from the numerous letters traded back and forth. The sound of the shower running on the opposite side of the wall brought her surroundings into focus and her situation to memory. Those thoughts were for after coffee. 

She reached for it and let the thin styrofoam layer around the liquid warm her hand before taking a sip. That it was exactly to her liking was no surprise, Logan had always seemed to take note of little things like that. Sydney scooted back in the bed to lean against the headrest and enjoy her drink. 

She knew that she should feel more worried than she did, she probably would soon enough, but right now it was hard to ignore the lightness that she felt from being out from under Colt’s thumb and out of LA. But how far out of LA? The note resting on the nightstand had the name of the motel and contact information printed at the very bottom. 

Flagstaff. Logan really had pushed his ability to drive for so long to get them as far away as possible. She looked up at the sound of the bathroom door opening to see Logan emerging, toweling off his wet hair. His shirt clung to his still damp body and it pulled and twisted along with his every move. 

“Good morning,” his smile was wide and bright.

A smile in return, “Thanks for the coffee. It’s better than I would expect from a place like this.”

He tossed the towel over the counter and sat on the edge of the bed, “I got it from a coffee shop down the block. You don’t even want to know what the coffee they were serving in the lobby looked like.” He shuddered for effect making her laugh. 

There was so much to talk about, to discuss. Where did they even start? Where did they go from here? 

“Did Ximena get a hold of you again?” He pointed at the scrawling black script peeking out from underneath the sleeve of her shirt in an attempt to break the silence. 

Sydney followed his line of sight confused until she landed on the tattoo that covered the majority of the inside of her left bicep, “Oh, yeah. It’s nothing.”

“Ah, it can’t be that bad.” He was teasing her noticing her obvious discomfort. 

She thought about it for a moment before sliding up the sleeve to show him. She couldn’t look him in the eyes. There would only be disappointment there, she was sure. “He makes everyone get them now. You can’t just come and go like when you were there.”

Logan moved closer to her on the bed and trailed his thumb over the bold faced print against her warm skin that read “MPC.” He had seen a tattoo just like this once before. 

“I know it’s stupid.” She pushed the sleeve back over it and pulled her arm to her. 

“It’s not stupid to do what you have to do.”

“I’m not as innocent in all this as you think I am.” She was still avoiding looking at him. 

Logan let out a bitter laugh, “I’m the last person that you have to preach to about innocence. I promise you, I’m not going to hold anything against you.”

The room felt small in that moment. Could he really look at her the same way knowing everything? It was something she hadn’t been able to achieve herself. 

Logan cleared his throat, “We can’t really stay here too much longer. I’d like to put some more distance between us.” The “us” in this scenario was clear. “But I figured you might want to pick up some clothes before we hit the road, unless you want to wear that everywhere we go.” He gestured at the wedding dress that had been hung up neatly in the closet. 

“Sure, but I don’t have any money. I don’t have anything actually, no phone, no license, no toothbrush.” Her mind was quickly whizzing through the long list of necessities that she didn’t have anymore. 

“Don’t worry about it. I can cover you,” he waved her off. 

“I can’t take money from you, Logan. You are already doing…so much.” 

“Call it a loan if that makes you feel better. Come on, Sydney. It’s no big deal.” 

She mulled it over for a minute, “Fine, but I’m paying every dime of it back.” Her gaze fell to her hand wrapped tightly around the coffee. She set it down and moved to sit next to Logan on the bed. 

“Take this as collateral.” She twisted the ornate diamond ring off her finger and pressed it into the palm of Logan’s hand. He wrapped his hand around hers before she could pull away. 

“I don’t want this,” he slipped the ring back into her hand and placed it back on her lap.

“I don’t either. I don’t need any more reminders of the ways I’ve messed up.” She cradled the ring in her hand, but made no move to put it back on. 

“Maybe you can sell or something when the heat is off of it and we figure everything out, but that’s for you. You’re never going to owe me anything.” He would never feel like he had paid her back enough for all the trouble that he had gotten her into anyway. Best to just call it even. 

***

It had been over a month since their grand escape and there had been surprisingly no trouble from Colt or MPC. Neither of them were foolish enough to believe that they were in the free and clear, but Sydney did feel comfortable enough to start looking towards the future. There had to be a future for her outside of all the trouble that she had buried herself in, and she was going to find it. 

Logan had been nothing but supportive during their time together. He was her rock in this storm that kept her anchored to reality and off of the proverbial ledges she found herself on late at night. Without him, she’s not sure what she would have done. Everything about her former life was pointing to disaster, so much so that she was afraid to look forward to a future of any kind. 

She was stirred from her musings by the sound of Logan banging his hand against the side of the change machine in this laundromat. It was late at night and they were the only two in the building right now. 

“Everything alright over there?” She smiled at his outburst. Logan’s patience was the stuff of legend, but it always amused her how it was the most menial things that would test it. 

“This stupid machine keeps eating my money.”

Sydney stood and walked over to it, inspecting the side briefly before swiftly picking the lock. Logan didn’t even have a chance to register what she was doing before the machine swung open revealing rows of quarters and his dollar bills crumbled up in the receiver. 

“Jesus…how did you do that so fast? And when did you get that?” He pointed at the lock pick in her hands. 

She shrugged, amused with his awestruck expression, “I made it.”

“That’s the fastest I have ever seen a lock picked. I’m genuinely impressed.”

“Didn’t you hear? I’m the Queen of LA. I can pick all the locks.” She laughed and grabbed a handful of quarters to start their laundry. 

“So that’s what Colt had you doing? Picking locks all around LA?” He was teasing her, but regretted it immediately when he noticed the dark expression cover her face. They didn’t really talk about Colt and never unless Sydney brought him up. 

She looked him in the eyes, losing herself to memories of being a weapon in Colt’s plans, before turning towards the machine that had already been loaded to put in the newly acquired coins. “I wish that were all he had me doing.”

Logan joined her, leaning against the adjacent machine, “I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make light of your situation.”

“But you don’t know, Logan. You don’t know the kinds of things we did. You thought kidnapping that guy for the Brotherhood was bad? That’s child’s play compared to things that we…that I…have done for Colt and for MPC.” The pain was visible on her face as she got tangled up in another memory. 

They hadn’t talked about her life with Colt very much. Logan elected to let her tell him bits and pieces as she felt comfortable sharing, but that information was few and far between. “You know you can tell me anything, right?”

She shrugged in response, keeping her eyes trained on the ground.

“Sydney, you have to know that I…care about you a lot. You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to. I just want you to know that you can, and that I’m not going to judge you for it.”

She gave him a tight smile and closed the machine. Of course Logan wouldn’t judge her, that’s not really what she was afraid of. She didn’t want to relive her worst mistakes, not with him. She just wanted him to believe that she was the same Sydney that he was able to fall in love with before. She wanted to be her again. 

She turned and walked over to one of the tables set up in the middle of the room to wait for their clothes to be done. Ok. They weren’t going to talk about it tonight, but he thought he might be able to cheer her up. The opening notes of Stevie Wonder’s “Sign, Sealed, Delivered” sounded through the dingy room like a sign from God. 

Logan took the few steps to be by her side and offered his hand to her, “Dance with me.”

“This is a laundromat.” She looked around curiously at their surroundings half expecting to have missed an entire dance floor set up somewhere. 

“It’s perfect. Look at all this room.” He gestured with his hand that wasn’t outstretched to Sydney. 

A smile started to form on her lips that she quickly quelled, “I don’t know.”

He pulled his hand back, “You’re right. It’s stupid. You probably don’t remember how to dance anyway.” He avoids her gaze, taking the seat next to her. 

Her eyes narrowed. She knows this is bait and it’s taking everything in her not to take it. She isn’t going to take it, but she wants to wipe that smug smirk off his face. 

She’s not going to take the bait.

“I can dance, ok?” her voice was more defensive than she wanted it to be. 

He looked her up and down, “Sure.”

Sydney’s eyes widened in indignation, “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing. I believe you, Sydney.” His tone was flat and unenthused. 

She looked forward determined to ignore him; she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction, “Dammit!” She groaned as she stood from her seat. “You’re the worst.”

Maybe the largest smile she had ever seen on his face cracked the surface as he jumped to his feet and took her hand to spin her in a graceful circle. “I’ll be the worst if it gets me a dance.”

The two spun and dipped around the vacant space underneath the flickering lights as the music intermingled with the clanging sound of the washing machines. And Sydney laughed. She didn’t know why, maybe it was the sheer ridiculousness of it all or maybe it was how overwhelmingly happy she felt in this moment. 

Logan jumped up on one of the wobbly folding tables and pulled her up with him to dance across it and over the tops of the machines that took up the middle of the room. She matched him step for step, determined to prove her skills and maybe even out step him for once. Sweat was just beginning to form across Logan’s face that made him glow when the overhead lights caught a glimpse of it. 

Sydney loved to see him like this. This was her Logan. 

He stepped back onto the table without taking into account the way it shifted uneasily underneath his weight. Sydney noticed too late as she stepped towards him and the table tipped over sending them both toppling to the ground laughing.

“Ow” she managed to squeak out in between fits of laughter. Her hip would definitely be bruised in the morning. 

Logan rolled over onto his side with a grunt as he felt the lingering effect of the impact, “Are you ok?”

“Bruised ass and ego,” she laughed.

“Yeah, not really my finest moment either.” He looked her over for minor injuries. 

They were still breathing heavily from their performance and the adrenaline rush from the fall. She was pretty sure that laundromat floors weren’t very sanitary, but right now the cool tile felt refreshing against her skin.

“Thank you.” Her voice was sincere. 

“For getting you tossed on the ground?” he teased her, but he knew what she was referring to. “You don’t have to thank me, Sydney.”

“I want to. You always seem to know how to cheer me up. I appreciate it…now more than ever.” she pushed herself into a sitting position that Logan mirrored beside her. “So how did I measure up? Are my dancing skills still to your liking?”

There was that smile again, “Flawless.”

Sydney wanted to taste that smile. Her eyes traveled to his lips of their own accord, and back to his eyes. She knew her thoughts were written all over her face by the way he was looking back at her. The space between them felt impossible to keep as the connection they’d always shared pulled them together. 

Logan wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into a searing kiss that left her more breathless than the dancing had. The tension that had been building every day they had spent together bubbled to the surface and manifested as desperate kisses back and forth. Her fingers tightened a hold on his arm that kept her tied to the present as she reacquainted herself with the dizzying way his lips made her feel. 

He had just moved his other hand to the base of her neck pulling her in when the song switch to Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” and the two sprung apart at the sound of the iconic guitar riff, feeling immediately awkward and embarrassed. 

Sydney broke into laughter first and Logan followed shortly after. The blush on her cheeks burned furiously and she prayed it didn’t look as vibrant as it felt. If it did, Logan gave her a pass as he stood and helped her to her feet without a word. 

Suddenly remembering where they were and why they were there in the first place, Sydney glanced to check their machine to see it had already finished its cycle. 

“I’m just going to get that.” She stumbled awkwardly over her feet and she fought to peel her eyes away from Logan. The smile on her face was beginning to ache, a pain she would never wish away. 

***

The tension from the kiss hadn’t dissipated at all into the next day. It was so palpable that Sydney could hardly stand to be in the same room with him if they weren’t going to talk about it. Logan on the other hand seemed completely unbothered by it. Maybe it didn’t mean anything. Maybe the kiss was just a kiss. 

But then he would look at her like that, And the butterflies would erupt in her stomach all over again like she was a wayward teenager again. They had checked into a new hotel nearly all the way across the country now on their pursuit for distance. This one was the nicest by far; they might even have clean sheets at this one. 

They continued the whole day like this, neither bringing up the things that needed talked about. And every time she felt like her anticipation was going to boil over, he would look at her with that smile like he knew something she didn’t. It was maddening. She wasn’t going to let this continue into the next day. She reached her breaking point when they got back to their room for the night.

Sydney pushed him up against the wall eliciting a sloppy laugh to fall from his lips. She stepped up close to him, looking up into his eyes as she held him against the wall with a hand on his chest. He was taller than she remembered, even with the extra height she got from her heels. 

“Why did you come for me?” The question shocked her as much as him, but she thought she might as well get it all out. It’s something they hadn’t really touched on during their time together, but, given their current situation, she needed to know. 

Logan peered down at her, biting back his smirk as he shrugged in response. “It seemed like the right thing to do. But I didn’t know I would be getting shaken down for it.”

“This is serious.” Her eyes were stern, but a smile was desperately trying to work it’s way onto her lips. “Tell me.”

He slipped his leg in between hers and used the leverage to spin them around, pinning Sydney against the wall by her wrists at either side of her face. “I did.” He countered, “It seemed like the right thing to do.”

He slid his hands from the wrist to her hands, intertwining their fingers. He would play this game if she wanted to, “Why didn’t you tell me how bad things were?” His voice was thick with emotion reminding her of the time they stood in the street in front of the garage pouring their hearts out. She didn’t want to think about that.

Instead, she took the opportunity to pin his arms behind his back and flip them around to regain the upper hand with Logan’s back against the wall again. Holding his hands behind his back forced them to be nearly pressed together; Logan didn’t fight it. 

“Why did you kiss me last night?” Her voice was much quieter now, almost a whisper.

He looked between her eyes, weighing the situation, “Sydney, I didn’t go there that day with any expectations. I just didn’t want you to make a huge mistake. If you’re asking me if I came for you just so I could kiss you a month and a half later then the answer is ‘no’.”

She slowly began to nod her head, “I know. Logan, do you remember prom?”

“Of course,” his smile was sad, too sad.

“You told me that you lo-“

“Stop,” he pushed his eyes shut for a moment. “Is this where you ask me if I’m still in love with you? If I ever stopped loving you? Is that what you want to hear?”

Sydney could already feel tears stinging her eyes as she shook her head, “I wouldn’t want that for you.”

“Well, you can let me know if you figure out how to make it stop.”

She dropped his hands reaching up to tilt his chin with her fingertips to look in his eyes. He leaned into her touch. Her eyes were fire, and he was burning underneath her gaze. 

“I don’t want you to stop.” She dropped her hand to the hem of his shirt and teased her fingers just underneath. A questioning look answered with a challenging stare led to Sydney sliding her hand under his shirt and over the warm planes of his body.

“Sydney…” he moaned her name like a wounded animal. 

Her head was tilted back to look into his eyes. “Kiss me, Logan.“ 

He licked his lips impulsively before delving his fingertips into her hair. His palms warm against her face, he traced his thumb gently over her lips. Her breath came sharp and heavy against it. She pulled his body closer by her hold on his shirt. 

He leaned down just in front of her face, the tip of his nose drawing a delicate line up the bridge of hers and back down again. The smile on his lips was teasing as he brought his lips impossibly close again and again. When he finally pressed his lips to hers it was too much and not enough. She felt weak in the knees as his tongue broke the bond between their lips and pressed her body closer against his for support.

Logan wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her one, two, three more times before pulling back. He twisted them around one last time so that Sydney was pinned between his arms against the wall before leaning down beside her ear, “Satisfied?” 

She dropped her head back against the wall feeling dizzy with excitement. A smile spread across her face as she shrugged nonchalantly. 

“No? What do you want from me, Syd?” 

The sound of his voice like this seemed tangible as they reached her ears and wrapped themselves around her mind. He was waiting for her to respond; she could see the desire in his eyes and see it in the restless way the muscles in his arms flinched in anticipation. 

“I want everything.” She pulled him into a kiss to back up her words.

Logan broke the kiss and sank to his knees in front of Sydney keeping eye contact as he placed his hands on the back of her thighs, “Is this what you had in mind?”

Her heart was hammering in her chest as she nodded, resting back against the wall, “It’s a good start.” The words were breathy and she wasn’t sure they had even been said loud enough to be heard until she saw the contented grin on his face. 

Logan ran his hands up and down her thighs coming to rest on the tops of her underwear. He nuzzled against her stomach soaking in this quiet moment, this closeness that he thought was lost. Sydney ran her fingers through his hair. 

She wanted to say it back. She wanted to tell him how damn sorry she was for not picking him. She wanted to scream at him for letting her do it. She wanted to be like this forever. 

He inched the delicate fabric over her hips and let them fall down her legs. Every one of his senses were alight with those memories from three years ago that he had buried deep inside himself, memories of the way she tasted and smelled and the sound of “I love you” dripping from her lips over and over again. It was unbearable and he wanted to smother them with new memories. 

He pushed her dress up just enough to press a trail of kisses along the inside of her thigh. The last one lingered as he lifted her leg over his shoulder and cast her one last glance. She was smiling at him. He loved her. 

He sucked hard, desperately, on the tender skin of her inner thigh, taking encouragement from the trembling coursing through her body as he pushed her dress around her waist. She could feel his breath against her skin, moving closer and closer. Her hands involuntarily reached for his scalp when he finally made contact, trying to cling to any physical thing.

She couldn’t imagine the ways he must be moving his tongue to make it feel like that. Her body was brought off the wall with each pass of his tongue, and when he sucked gently on her, pulling and releasing, she thought the one leg she had on the ground would buckle.

“Fuck, Logan…” she wanted to say something, anything, but any other words were lost on their way to her tongue. All she could do was whimper his name and let him lead her through waves of pleasure. The hum of encouragement he gave against her body only intensified the pressure building in her stomach. 

Logan was already lost in the taste of her, determined to cover his face in her orgasm. His arms twisted underneath her thighs and around to the tender curve of her ass where he gripped, pulling her against him, and it was enough to push her over the edge. Her back arched towards him, pulling him closer with the leg that was hooked over his broad shoulder. The point of her heel dug into his back leaving a vibrant shade of red in its wake. 

Her choking gasp was everything Logan wanted to hear. He closed his eyes and let the sound wash over him. Whatever it took for them to get to this point was worth it, would always be worth it. He gently lowered her leg from his shoulder to around his waist as he stood on shaking legs to lift her off the ground. Sydney gladly wrapped her legs around his waist and rested in his support as she came down from her high. 

Logan wiped his mouth unceremoniously against the shoulder of her dress before kissing her. God, he would never get over how good every inch of her tasted. She shifted her hips against his and trembled at the sensation.

“Everything?” he asked referencing her earlier answer.

She smiled, trailing her fingers over his cheek and along his jaw, “everything.” 

He brushed her hair off her shoulder and pressed agonizing kisses down her neck, pausing only to help Sydney pull his shirt off. They could have been anywhere in the world right now and she wouldn’t know it. Nothing existed beyond him. The way he kissed her and touched her was overwhelmingly reverent, and even the most subtle squeeze of his hands on her skin felt more intimate than she could imagine.

Logan pushed them off the wall and blindly walked them to the bed. His heart swelled at the sound of her laughter in his ear as he stumbled on unexpected furniture and luggage in their way. She straddled his lap once they made it to the bed and took the opportunity to admire his exposed chest before kissing him again and again. 

She recognized most of the scars across his body, but, just like his car, there were a few new ones that she wondered about before being pulled back into focus by his hands trailing underneath her dress and up her back.

He moved his hands over the warm expanse of her body as she gently rocked her hips on top of him. He pressed his forehead to her chest, savoring the way her body felt. 

A pained groan rumbled through his throat, “The dress has to go.” He freed his hand to reach for the zipper at the top of her gown and inched it down.

The room felt like it was spinning as she pushed off of Logan’s lap to step out of her dress and kick off her shoes. 

“I can’t believe I have enough luck to find myself here again.” His eyes swept over her body, admiring every curve. It took him over three years to be like this with her again and he wasn’t going to take it for granted. 

“You believe in luck now, Logan?” She teased him as she crawled back over him and unbuckled his belt.

“Short of divine intervention, I don’t have any other explanation.” He watched, hypnotized, as she slid his pants off and let them drop to the ground.

Her eyes were calling to him and he would answer in any way she asked. With one arm hooked around her waist, he pulled her slowly to the bed with him and rolled her underneath him. Sydney wanted everything, but Logan felt like the selfish one now as he tasted every inch of her skin that he could access. Kisses to her hips, stomach, shoulders, and neck all preceded the attention being given to her breasts as he tenderly sucked on the sensitive skin.

The roll of his shoulder muscles as he moved around her body reminded her of waves. She was ready to drown. 

“Logan,” She pleaded his name. It was the best he had ever heard his name said in his life. It made his fingers dig into the flesh of her waist and the burning tension in his groin become unbearable. 

“Shit… Hold on.” He reached around on the floor by the bed until he found his wallet tucked into the back pocket of his discarded jeans. He tore open the wrapper of the condom that he found inside with his teeth before pushing his already sweaty hair out of his face and continuing where they stopped. 

“You make me so happy, Logan.” She reached for him, pulling him close to her.

Her hair was fanned out around her face that was glistening with sweat and the afterglow of her first orgasm. It made him feel so weak. 

“I want you to be happy. I l-” he bit his lip hesitantly before kissing her instead. The questioning look was still in her eyes when they parted, but there would be time for that later. 

He rested his forehead against hers and focused on the shades of brown in them as he guided one of her legs around his waist and sank slowly into her. Jesus Christ, he would never forget the sound she just made as she broke their eye contact to screw her eyes tightly shut.

“Oh my god,” she managed to force the words out as she kept a tight grip on Logan’s bicep. 

He couldn’t stop watching the way her body was responding to his with her head pressed back into the mattress and her still swollen lips working to form words that he would kill to hear. “You are so beautiful, Sydney.” His voice sounded far away, an echo of how it usually sounded in his head. 

Her hand shook as she reached to push the hair from his face. Logan took her hand in his and pulled her with him as he sat with his back against the wall adjacent to the bed. He dropped his head against the wall to admire the view in front of him and Sydney moved her body in the most enticing way against him. There was a beautiful flush across her skin that he couldn’t help but devour. 

“Logan? Say it,” her voice was quiet, barely a whisper. 

He looked back and forth between her eyes trying to focus as she slowed to the most tortuously slow pace.

“Tell me what you were going to say,” her eyes were filled with desperate tears.

Strong arms wrapped around her shoulders and pulled her to his chest. He kissed her shoulder and nuzzled into the hair gathered at the crook of her neck. “I love you, Sydney.”

She pushed back from the comfort of his embrace to see him. 

“You know I do.” he dropped his gaze to where his hand now rested on her hip feeling exposed.

Her heart was beating fast and frantic at his words. A light with possibility she tilted his face to look at her again, “Say it again.”

Nervousness burst from his lips in the form of a laugh as all his reservations melted away. He pushed her back on the bed, doting her body with kisses in between passionate “I love you’s”. A weight was lifted from his chest now that she knew. He wanted her to always know. She was the love of his life and he wanted her to always know.

Giggles ripped through her body as Logan’s kisses marked her body with a trail of bruises and intermingled with the immense joy overflowing from her heart that she thought was no longer lovable at all. Her laughter dissolved into moans that dissolved into strangled attempts at his name as he vowed to demonstrate his love to her. 

***

She looked peaceful curled up next to him in the bed. He would love her forever this time if she let him. They spent the rest of the night, after showering, in each other’s arms telling stories and sharing memories until Sydney slipped into a deep sleep. Logan soon followed; he would follow her anywhere. 

When he woke the next morning, he snuck out of bed on a mission to get breakfast from that bakery Sydney had pointed out the day before and bring it back before she woke up. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her as he pulled on his clothes and ran a hand through his hair. The morning sun was playing over her skin and he knew he would stare at it until she woke up if he didn’t make himself go. 

After acquiring coffee and some of Sydney’s favorite pastries he strolled back up the block to their hotel. The morning air was refreshing and felt cleansing as he breathed it in. He nodded to the receptionist working the desk on the way into the lobby and made for the elevator. 

“Your guest arrived early. I directed him to the room for you.” She was smiling politely when Logan turned to her and set down the contents in his hands. 

“What guest?” His heart sank into his stomach. 

His horror shocked the smile from her face as she pulled up his reservation on the computer quickly, “It says on your reservation that you would be accepting a guest. He said you were expecting him.”

Logan didn’t need to know the name. He knew. He took off running for the stairs and ran up the three flights to get to their floor. He barreled through the door to the hallway, slowing only when he saw the slightly ajar door to their room. 

He reached out and pushed it open slowly while trying to swallow his nausea down. When he stepped inside he was met with the Colt’s dark, sleepless eyes. He was sitting in the chair opposite the bed watching Sydney as she continued to sleep peacefully. His eyes met Logan’s with a wicked grin. 

Logan took a heated step in his direction before Colt pressed a finger to his lips to shush him as he slid a handgun on the table next to him. He silently prompted him to close the door behind him. The defining click of the latch played in his mind like a metronome, ticking away the time he had to figure out a way to get Sydney out of here alive.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan wins and Sydney has everything

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PB owns all this, and me. Ok, super important: I know I usually write for Colt x MC, but this is not that. In fact this will venture into evil!Colt a bit (nothing graphic). This part doesn’t really go deep into it, but the next part will. This fic assumes that Sydney went to prom and slept with Logan, but then slept with Colt at the safe house and ended up with him.

The sun was warm on her face and shoulders as she rolled over in bed to burrow against Logan’s chest. The contact of bare skin on bare skin created a bubbly warmth in the pit of her stomach that bled through the rest of her body. Sydney opened one eye to confirm that he was in fact already awake; she knew it by the way he was running his fingers over her exposed skin.

He was smiling at her brightly. The hue of the morning light painted his skin with the most delicate shades of gold and pink. “Good morning,” His voice sounded sweet and thick like honey. He hadn’t been awake long. 

“Good morning.” She never wanted to get out of this bed, never wanted to be out of his embrace. Logan leaned in and pressed a soft, lingering kiss to her lips, to her cheek, to her neck. Her body melted against his as she savored the finest details of his lips and tongue.

“Don’t be afraid.” His voice was low and quiet in her ear.

She pulled back enough to see his face, “Why would I be afraid?” Her voice began to echo around her head.

He brushed the hair away from her eyes and cradled her face, “He’s here, Sydney.”

She furrowed her eyebrows and tried to put the pieces together.

“I need you to wake up, ok? And I need you to trust me.” His voice was growing further away as he continued to talk. 

Sydney’s eyes snapped open, her heart was racing as she searched Logan’s side of the bed for him. His hand ran over her arm from the opposite side and she turned in the bed to find him sitting on the edge. 

He smiled at her.

But it wasn’t right.

His words from her dream came clicking into place as she registered the third person in the room for the first time. Logan ran his hand over her hair. A thousand messages passing between their eyes. 

“It’s ok. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.” His voice was in a low whisper, but he spoke the words so confidently that she couldn’t help but believe him. 

She sat up in the bed pulling the sheets around her naked torso. 

“Oh please… Everyone in this room has seen you naked, Sydney.” Colt was watching from his spot across the room. Sydney hadn’t missed the gun sitting on the table or the cold, icy sting of his glare. His voice was even; too even not to have been practiced. 

“How did you find me?” She tried to maintain a steady voice, but couldn’t keep the waver that punctuated her question from taking over. 

Colt glanced to her left hand and back to her eyes. “You must have it somewhere.”

“My ring? This whole time? You’ve been tracking me for years?” She didn’t know why that fact hurt so bad or why it was so surprising. Had everything been a lie?

“Apparently it wasn’t such a bad decision.” He gestured around before raking a hand over his face. “Are you done now, with whatever the fuck this was?”

Sydney looked back and forth between him and Logan, “Colt, this isn’t some kind of act of rebellion. I’m not going back there. I’m done.”

“You don’t have a choice.” He stood. “Or have you forgotten how much shit I have gotten you out of over the years? Or how much I’ve fucking done for you?”

Logan stood in the space between them, “She doesn’t owe you anything.”

Colt scoffed as he sized Logan up, “Please…save it. You don’t know the half of it, I’m sure.”

“I know enough.” In truth, Logan didn’t know much about what happened between the two of them, but he did know that none of it mattered much to him. 

“Yeah? And what do you know, Logan?” His eyes slid over to Sydney with a smirk. He knew she wouldn’t talk about the things that kept her up at night. He would bet on her shame every time and win. 

“Enough to know that she couldn’t stand the idea of being married to you for the rest of her life. Enough to know that you have manipulated and used her for years, and I don’t need to know anything else.” He shrugged as the gears turned in his head to find a way out. 

A look of confusion came over his face before it melted away into unbridled amusement, “Oh, shit. Sydney, you are terrible.” He sat back down in the chair, resting easily into it. “Are you going to tell him or should I?”

“Colt, stop.” It was meant as a warning, but the sudden wave of nausea she felt dampened it’s effects. 

“What’s he talking about?” Logan asked while keeping his eyes trained on Colt. When he didn’t get an answer he turned to see the tears falling down her face. 

“The wedding was a fucking spectacle that I only even paid for because she wanted it.” Colt spat the words out. “Sydney and I have been married for the past two years. Isn’t that right, Mrs. Kaneko?” He sat back with his arms lazily draped on the armrests to watch the aftermath of his revelation. 

Sydney jumped up from the bed, still clutching the sheet around her body, to come to Logan’s side, “Logan, it’s not like that.” Her voice was desperate, pleading. Every word was a struggle to choke out from her throat that was stinging with sorrow, “I swear to god it wasn’t like that. You have to believe me.”

She placed her hand on his chest, feeling how it rose and fell in sharp repetitions. He turned to look at her, “How can I believe you when you have been keeping this from me all this time?” He waited just long enough for her face to twist with pain and hurt before winking.

Understanding settled over her before she picked up where they left off. 

“I didn’t think you would understand! It was just for court…so we wouldn’t have to testify against each other. Please…” She had played this conversation out in her head enough times to know how to make it convincing. 

“Then why didn’t you tell me?” He took a step in her direction so that his back was turned completely to Colt. 

“Maybe I knew you would react like this and didn’t want you to leave again like you did after the Brotherhood!” The crack in her voice and tears streaming down her face were too convincing. 

Logan winced at the words before regaining his composure, “What are you talking about? I thought you had left too. You were supposed to be at school.”

“You wouldn’t know, though, would you? You disappeared weeks before that.” She hated talking about these very real hurts like this, but she needed to be able to sell this and she needed to get it all off her chest…just in case. 

Logan mouthed a silent command to her before swallowing hard and continuing his line of offense. “Maybe I would have stuck around longer if I didn’t have to watch you sneak off with him,” he gestured behind him with a tilt of his head, “at my best friend’s house.”

The effort it took to keep from sobbing was nearly too overwhelming to channel into anger as she tried to do what she needed to. She knew taking Colt to bed with her at Vaughn’s was going to hurt Logan. Looking back on it now, she couldn’t think of a valid reason for having done it. Any betrayal or hurt that Logan had caused her back then paled in comparison with the things she had grown to accept from Colt in recent years. 

She took a step towards him and shoved him as hard as she could, like he had wordlessly instructed her to, setting off a chain reaction of chaos as Logan toppled towards Colt. 

Logan’s back collided with the table and he took it as a queue to twist towards Colt’s direction, using his momentum to punch him as hard as he could manage. Colt had seen it coming, maybe a second too late, and was able to get to a standing position just before Logan’s fist struck his jaw. While not avoiding the impact completely, it was dulled significantly.

The two traded blow after blow as they crashed against furniture and sent lamps shattering to the ground. Sydney darted for the gun on the table only to find it missing. It wasn’t on the ground surrounding the area either. She searched frantically around before coming to the conclusion that one of the guys must have grabbed it. 

Her heart stopped in her chest as she tried to locate a sheen of gun metal among the tangle of increasingly bruised and bloody limbs. It caught her eye too late as Colt freed his arm and slammed the butt of it hard against Logan’s temple. Her feet felt glued to the floor as she watched Logan try to blink the auras from his eyes. She vaguely registered attempting to reach for Colt as he took a stumbling step back, leveled the gun to his shoulder and pulled the trigger without a warning. The sound was sharp and piercing as the silencer absorbed the bang. It happened so quickly that Sydney barely got her hands on Colt before she heard the sound of Logan’s body hitting the wall behind him. 

He struggled to stay on his feet before his knees buckled underneath him and he slid to the ground clutching his side. He watched as horror painted Sydney’s face in violent shades of red. She was crying and he thought she might be screaming, but he couldn’t hear her. He couldn’t hear anything except the high ringing note playing in his mind.

Colt grabbed her by the arm, and was shouting something in her face. Sydney fought against his grip as he shoved whatever clothes that were nearby in her direction and began dragging her towards the door. He couldn’t let him take her. He felt cold and wanted to get up, he needed to get up. 

But he was so tired. 

***

He blinked and opened his eyes to an empty room. His senses came back like a tidal wave making him feel more confused and nauseous. But Sydney’s voice screaming his name pulled him out of it. With heart hammering violently, he pushed himself off the floor and stumbled into the hallway following the sound of her voice. He must not have been out long if they were still here.

Blood had stained his shirt and hand; he could feel it streaming down his body. He briefly acknowledged that he wasn’t coughing up blood and that that must have been a good sign. He had to move faster. 

Another shriek of his name came from the stairwell. He chased after it trying desperately to ignore the searing pain shooting through his body as he pushed through the door to the stairs. He could hear their voices growing further away as they descended floor after floor. The door to a fire escape caught his eye and, after a brief calculation, he thought it might be his best shot. 

An alarm blared out as soon as he pushed the door open to a small landing that led to a long ladder. He half slid, half climbed down at speeds that surprised even him, especially in his condition, but the only thing he could think of was getting Sydney out of Colt’s hands. 

He met them at the side entrance to the building and swung a fire extinguisher he had picked up by the exit hard against Colt’s jaw sending him sprawling to the ground with Sydney still in his grip. Logan grabbed her hand and pulled her up as hard as he could.

“We have to get out of here fast.” They ran the remaining length of the parking lot towards the back. Sprinting for the Devore had Sydney stumbling over her feet as she tried to keep up with Logan’s long strides. She jumped into the passenger seat, darting glances between the exit door and Logan as he made his way around the vehicle. 

He fell into the seat and crammed the key into the ignition, but when he turned it there was nothing. He tried once more. Nothing at all.

“Fuck!” he slammed his hand against the steering wheel twice and got out. He met Sydney on the passenger side and began pulling her back out of the vehicle. 

“Logan, your car…” she didn’t know why she was pleading with him over it. What did she expect? That they could spend a few hours fixing it before they headed out? But she knew how much it meant to him. 

“Forget it. We have to find something else. Can you get one of these cars started?” He was focused, and, Sydney thought, a little scared. 

“Wait!” She shrieked. “The letters! Did you keep the letters I sent you?”

He was losing energy quickly and he desperately wanted to get her away before he passed out, “We don’t have time for this.”

“Please, it’s important!”

Logan looked around quickly before responding, “the glove box.”

Sydney scrambled for it and collect all her letters that were gathered there. She knew he would keep them. With the bundle pressed against her chest, she turned towards the lot, picked a car she knew she could get started and began working on it.

It only took her a few moments to get the engine to ignite, “Yes! Logan, I got it!” She looked around for him confused to find that he wasn’t right next to her. She stepped around the car and found him leaning against the back fender watching the door. 

She took in the wound to his side for the first time and the bruises that were becoming more vivid by the minute, “I’ll drive.” She smiled at him in an attempt to offer some reassurance, but knew it did little to help the gravity of their situation. 

After, shutting the door, she turned to check the hotel entrance one last time and found Colt standing on the other side watching them peel off. It wouldn’t be long before he found them again. 

She was counting on it. 

***

They drove just far enough out of town to give them time to breathe before Colt caught up to them, stopping only once so Sydney could pick up the two things she would need to set her plan into motion. She twisted the gaudy diamond ring around on her finger as she stared out the windshield. It felt even heavier than it had before. They knew that Colt wouldn’t be walking into this blind, not when everyone was aware of the tracking now. But Sydney didn’t need to blindside him, she only needed to stay one step ahead.

She turned to check on Logan laying in the passenger side seat. He kept insisting he was fine and that it was only a flesh wound, but the way his complexion was paling made that hard to believe. 

“How are you feeling?” She felt terrible for putting him in this situation. A part of her wished that he had never showed up at the wedding and then he would be far away from this mess. 

“Never better.” He didn’t have the energy to sell that lie. He was pretty sure that he wasn’t going to die from this, but the amount of blood he had lost left him feeling weak and dizzy. 

“Logan, can we talk about what happened at Vaughn’s house?” She kept her hands on the steering wheel and her gaze forward as the town that they thought could be their safe haven for a little while blurred past them. 

He waved her off, “We don’t have to do this right now, or ever, actually.” He sat up in the seat, still putting pressure on his injured side. “I was just trying to make the argument realistic.”

“I don’t think that’s true.” 

“It doesn’t matter anymore.” He turned to look out the window.

“I need you to know. I was so confused during that time. I felt like my whole world was imploding and Colt was there offering me a new one.” She swallowed hard to manage the rest of her explanation. “I had spent so much time trying to live the life my dad orchestrated for me, and Colt convinced me that I could make my own life with him. I thought he saw something strong in me, but I think it was actually something weak that he saw and knew he could bend it in his favor. The only thing I have accomplished this whole time is going from what my dad wanted for my life to what Colt wanted for my life. I don’t even know what I want for my life anymore. Maybe I never did.” 

Sydney glanced at him and back to the road. They were almost to their destination and she had a lot to do once they got there. She blinked back her tears for what she hoped would be the last time tonight, “But I know that I want you in it, Logan. I’m sorry I hurt you.”

He turned back towards her and pulled her nearest hand from the steering wheel to keep it in his. They drove in silence until Sydney stopped the car in a nondescript lot not unlike the one that had found them all together for the first time at a sideshow in LA. The car rocked back on the axles as it was put into park and then everything was still. 

Sydney reached into the back seat and pulled out the bound letters that she had gathered from Logan’s car, “I’m also sorry that I didn’t tell you about the marriage. It really didn’t mean anything like that when we did it. Colt said it was the only way we could protect each other.”

“I’m not worried about it, Sydney.” His casual tone endorsed his claim.

“But you deserved to know before we…slept together. I should have told you.” Her worried expression melted away at the sound of his laughter. Despite herself, the sound made her smile too, “What’s so funny?”

“You know everything I’ve done, and you think adultery is where my line is drawn?” He struggled to keep from laughing again.

Sydney covered her face with her hand feeling a little embarrassed, “I don’t know! I didn’t want to be presumptuous.”

“It’s fine, Sydney. Really. It sucks for you; I doubt Colt is going to cooly go along with a divorce any time soon.” He watched as Sydney began unfolding the letters and making small circles around various letters throughout. 

She was lost in her work now, focusing on the pattern she had created too long ago, “I don’t care about anything except getting out from under his thumb right now.”

“I’m not going to call you ‘Sydney Kaneko’” he teased.

It earned him a small smile, “I wouldn’t let you anyway.”

Logan gestured to the letters that she had spread out across her lap and the dashboard, “What did you hide in those?”

Mischief was alight in her eyes when she turned to answer him, “account numbers”.

***

Logan was sitting on the hood of the stolen car when the headlights of Colt’s car appeared. He stopped the vehicle several yards in front of Logan, idling for a moment before cutting off the engine and sending the space back into near darkness. The streetlight on the other side of the lot was the only thing working to illuminate the place. Colt stepped out of the car and leaned against the front bumper after walking to the front of the vehicle.

“Where is she?” he held his hands out to the side, annoyed that he even had to ask. The bruising along the entire side of his jaw from the fire extinguisher was still very noticeable with the limited lighting. 

Logan tossed the engagement ring at Colt’s feet before standing from the car, “Not here.”

Colt toed the ring around on the ground, “Let’s skip this bullshit part. I know she’s here. You know she’s here. Play your hand or leave because I’m not going anywhere without her.”

“Do you even care what Sydney wants?”

Colt snorted and took a casual step in Logan’s direction, “Sydney doesn’t even know what she wants. She would be rotting in a prison cell right now if it wasn’t for me”

“She would be there because of you! Are you just going to keep putting her in situations that she needs your help to get out of? That’s no rescue.” He could feel Sydney’s eyes on them and she soundlessly moved through the dark. 

“Guess you would know about rescues, huh?” Colt was only a few feet now. “What are you even getting out of this? Do you really think she is going to stick around? This isn’t the first time she has tried to leave, and she always comes back.”

“I don’t need to get anything out of this. I just need her to be away from you.” Logan’s heart was hammering in his chest, reminding him of the amount of blood he had lost. 

Colt narrowed his eyes at him, “How noble. That would mean a lot more if you hadn’t already fucked her.” He watched the way Logan’s body tensed at his words. Colt loved knowing how to strike someone’s nerves. “How was she?”

“Shut the fuck up.” Logan knew this was bait, but every instinct he had was telling him to make Colt shut up. 

Colt smiled, taking on a more casual tone, “You should be thanking me, you know? I taught her everything she knows. The way she moves her hips, the way she says your name, the way she wraps her hand around your-”

It was too easy, Colt knew Sydney would always be Logan’s Achilles heel. When he was cut off by Logan charging the last steps between them he slid the knife from inside his jacket sleeve and sank it into Logan’s abdomen.

Logan stumbled against Colt in an attempt to stay upright. Colt twisted the blade slightly to bring him to his knees. He hit the ground clutching at the spot where the knife’s hilt was still protruding from his body.

Colt crouched down in front of him, “You are so fucking predictable. Is she worth all of this to you? All she does is make you weak and for what? So you can be her next stepping stone to get further away from the privileged girl she was in LA?”

Colt stood and pulled the gun from the holster inside his jacket. He pressed the cool metal of the barrel against Logan’s forehead and pulled the hammer back. Logan tried to keep his eyes on Colt despite the flurry of movement behind him and the amount of blood pooling around his knees.

“Wait!” Sydney screamed from behind him causing him to turn. “Stop. I’ll go with you.” She looked past him and mouthed an apology to Logan.

“Why should I believe you?” Colt started taking measured steps towards her. 

She forced herself to meet his gaze, “I don’t want him to die.”

Colt turned to look at Logan still on his knees watching them, “He’s probably going to die whether you come with me or not.”

“I don’t want to be alone.” The tears in her eyes were easy enough to come by, and her plea was one Colt had heard from her several times before. She hopped it was enough for him to take her back. 

He looked her over, gauging her sincerity, “I’m never going to trust you again. And you’re going to have to earn you spot back.”

Sydney nodded frantically sending tears crashing to the ground, “I’ll do anything.”

“Do you have anything on you?” he gestured for her to lift her arms so he could pat her down for weapons. 

She shook her head and followed his commands. She watched him closely as he ran his hands over and around her body finding nothing in return. 

“Get in the car,” he watched as she walked around the vehicle and got into the passenger side without a glance back and Logan. He opened his door and climbed in still trying to lay out what their plan had been out here. He knew this was too easy, but couldn’t figure out what their angle was. 

Colt turned the key in the ignition and all the pieces fell into place when the engine made a dead clicking sound instead of starting. By the time he had turned towards Sydney, she had already had one side of the handcuffs around his wrist and the other latched around the steering wheel before he could stop her. 

“What the fuck, Sydney?” He started to reach for the gun in his jacket until Sydney pulled the crowbar off the floorboard and pressed it tightly against his throat. She was leaning over him and the fire in her eyes let him know that she was done. “What are you going to do? Kill me?”

“I don’t need to kill you. You are no longer a threat.” She needed to get to Logan, but she needed Colt to hear her first. 

“I’m going to get out of these,” he pulled against the restraints. “And you are going to regret this when I do.”

“You aren’t going to get away this time, Colt.” She struggled to keep her pressure nonlethal. “Even if you get out here, you have nothing to go back to.”

Colt searched her eyes for an answer and found only disdain there, “What did you do?”

“I gave them everything.” The police sirens were already audible in the distance. “They’ve seized all your accounts, the garage, the house, and you know there will be enough evidence to put you away for life.”

“Jesus Christ, Sydney! What the fuck is wrong with you? You’re really going to sell me out and give up everything we’ve built together for him?”

“I love how it’s only something we’ve built together when it’s convenient for you. What happened to me being nothing without you?” She pushed the crowbar tighter against his throat. “I’m doing this for me, Colt. And I hope you do get out someday so you can attempt to rebuild and figure out how impossible that is without my help.”

Colt had the intense look in his eyes that Sydney had witnessed on occasion while he strangled or beat someone in front of her. She never thought he would look at her this way, but for the first time in a long time, she didn’t care at all. She pulled the gun from his jacket and tossed it in the backseat before pushing away from him. 

“You’re a fucking dead woman, Sydney. I hope you know that this isn’t going to go away; not with me in prison or out.”

The sirens were getting too close and she had to get Logan out of here. She got out of the car and leaned into the window, “I don’t believe anything you say anymore.” She shut the door and ran as fast as she could to Logan’s side.

“We have to get out of here fast.” She hooked her arm under his and used all her strength to help him stand.

They ran to the car, Sydney pulling him along as fast as she could. She gently helped him into the seat and closed the door. Colt was staring at them the entire time. She would be lying if she said that she wasn’t intimidated by his threat, but she couldn’t think about that right now. They had to go. 

She started the car and pulled out as fast as she could, driving west. 

***

When they finally stopped, Sydney had barely got the car in park before she turned to Logan and started assessing the damage. They had pulled off a nondescript exit and stopped on the side of the road, seemingly in the middle of nowhere.

“This is bad.” She looked at him for a moment. He could barely keep his eyes open. She could feel herself start to panic. “What do you need me to do? Do I pull this out?” The knife that Colt had used was still buried in his abdomen.

When he didn’t answer her, she began to cry, “Logan, I’m scared and I don’t know what to do.” 

He took her hand in his, sliding his icy fingers in between hers, “I want to take you on a picnic.” His head was dropped back against the headrest as he worked through labored breaths. 

“Right now?” She nearly screeched the question. 

Logan laughed abruptly sending him cringing towards his injured side. The agonized groan that followed would have almost sounded erotic under different circumstances. “No, not right now, but some day.” He dropped his head back down and turned to look at her. “I want to do a lot of things with you, Sydney.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. 

“I want to take care of you. I want to…buy a house with you. I want to sleep with you without having to run for our lives the next day.” That last one earned him a brief laugh from Sydney as she wiped away the stream of tears staining her face. 

“Will we have a dog?” she barely got the words out.

“You want a dog?” There were so many silly little things they hadn’t gotten the opportunity to talk about. He wanted to know everything about her.

Sydney nodded feeling her throat tighten as he Logan rubbed gentle circles over her hand.

“Then you’ll have a dog. I want you to have everything. I want everything too.” He brought her hand to his chest. “But none of those things are ever going to happen if I bleed out in a fucking family sedan.” 

She knew what he was saying, but didn’t think she could do it. His name was the only thing she could manage to say. 

“Come on, Sydney. You know this is the only way.” It was a struggle to keep his eyes open, but he needed to know that she was going to help him. 

“I don’t think I can do it.” Tears were freely falling and her words came out in stuttering sobs. 

Logan smiled and brought his hand up to touch her face, but stopped short when he noticed the blood covering his entire hand, “Of course you can. You’re the Queen of LA; you can do anything.”

“I’m serious!”

“I am too!” He dropped his head back again feeling the last of his energy dwindling. “I need you…to go into that gas station and call an ambulance. Tell them you walked by and saw me bleeding out here.”

She buried her face in her hands. It felt like she was being stabbed in the heart. Before she could lose her nerve, she quickly leaned over and pressed a rough kiss to his lips and hopped out of the car without a second glance. If he had a chance to say anything else she might not be able to go through with it. 

Sydney stood a block away after having called the ambulance to make sure they got to him. She watched as they loaded him on the gurney and pushed him into the emergency vehicle before sinking to the ground. 

***

A six year sentence for grand theft auto…

Minus two years for good behavior…

Minus two more years for well placed bribes to the governor’s office… 

Logan curled the fingers of his right hand around one of the wrought iron spindles of their bed frame to anchor him to this world. His other hand had followed Sydney underneath the covers to offer the gentle encouragement that his fingers through her hair could give. His chest rose, lifting his back the mattress as he pressed his head into the soft pillows. 

He had been out of prison for six months today and Sydney had insisted it was cause for celebration. Logan couldn’t argue with Sydney’s form of celebration. He had been extradited back to LA after his arrest and Sydney followed close behind. She had been to every court hearing, every visitation day, and wrote countless letters in between.

She had rented a place just outside of town (but still in the county to meet parole limitations). Logan had moved in with her as soon as he got out, and even though the transition had been rough, she made him feel like he was home. They still spent a lot of time looking over their shoulders, but this time had been some of the happiest of either of their lives. 

Logan’s grip on her hair had begun to tighten and she could feel the muscles in his legs flex and relax with her movement until a mixture of breathy expletives and her own name poured from his lips. She smiled satisfied, her lips still wrapped around him. When she crawled back up his body to lay next to him he smiled at her and it lit up the room. 

“Remind me to stop avoiding prison if this is my reward for getting out.” He kissed her lips, taking note of the extra volume.

Sydney hummed thoughtfully, “But remember those two years without any of this at all? Doesn’t seem worth it to me.”

“You’re right,” He curled his arm underneath his head and relaxed back against it.

Sydney rested her head on his chest, enjoying the steady rhythm of his breathing. Her life was incredibly uneventful now. There was no crime, no running, no nightmares, and no shame. It was everything she could have wanted and the feeling of utter contentment was suffocating in the best way.

She propped her chin up on her folded hands and as Logan’s gaze met hers. It would give her butterflies every time. He could read her mind, she was certain of it, and gave her that lazy smile that was reserved for whole days spent in bed. She had everything.


	4. Outtakes pt.1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan wins: Outtakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PB owns all this, and me. While writing Sanctuary, I ended up cutting a lot out that I felt maid the main three parts too wordy or clunky. I didn’t dislike those parts so I figured I would share them separately in case anyone was interested. Some of the scenes will feel disconnected because they are. I’m happy that these particular parts are coming out after, though because now you already know that Logan finds some peace by the end of pt. 3

The prison gate clambered open and Logan had to fight the learned instinct to stay inside the walls. He didn’t have to stay inside anymore. After heaving a deep breath of fresh air, he took the first step across the threshold and then the second. He didn’t have anything on him when they picked him up from the hospital two years ago, so today he was leaving empty handed. 

He felt almost exactly like he had seven years ago when he first arrived in LA with little more to his name than he had now. But there was one important difference between then and now and she was standing in front of him now. 

Logan had seen Sydney at least once every week of his incarceration without fail, but this was different. The sunlight was staining her skin in shimmering gold tones and the wind was tousling her hair. It was a much different image than seeing her inside the sterile visitation room of the prison. 

He stopped several feet in front of her; he couldn’t stop staring. Maybe this wasn’t even real. It felt an awful lot like his best dreams. He held his hand out to her not knowing why it was so important to him that she close the distance, but it was. She didn’t hesitate before grabbing his hand and pulling herself the rest of the way towards him.

Dreams didn’t feel as good as Sydney did in his arms right now. She held tightly around his waist as he moved his hands over her back and arms. Sydney could feel his heart beat against her cheek. When she looked up at him he was already staring down at her with a tentative smile on his lips. 

“Kiss me, Logan.” She smiled at him. He was going to love her forever.

He pressed his lips to hers without ceremony and savored every minute detail of her kiss. They hadn’t properly kissed without fear of being reprimanded during his entire two year stay and now Logan thought he would never want to stop. He pulled her closer by the slopes of her neck and lower back. He wanted to pull her closer and closer until they were indistinguishable from one another. 

The bustling of guards around them as the shift change commenced pulled the veil from their reunion. 

“Let’s get away from here.” He gave one last glance at the building behind him that had been the last hurdle he had to jump through to be with Sydney.

She pressed a quick kiss to the corner of his lips before tossing him a set of keys, “You’re driving.”

She led the short distance that separated them from their getaway vehicle. 

“No…fucking…way.” Logan froze in his tracks as the smooth lines of his Devore, that had been an extension of him for years, filled his vision. 

Sydney squealed with excitement next to him as she bounced on her toes, “Are you surprised?!”

“Very. How did you do this?” He pulled her hand against his chest, but kept his eyes trained on the familiar yellow paint.

“I couldn’t just leave it behind. After you were picked up I went back for it and spent the next few months fixing it up.”

“You’ve had it all this time?”

“Yeah,” she shrugged. “I wanted to be able to surprise you with it when you got out.” 

Logan nodded. He wasn’t even going to attempt to find words to describe how overwhelmingly thankful he was to see this car or for all the trouble Sydney went through to get it to him.

Once he was inside, he leaned back into the seat that still had the shape of his figure pressed into the padding from all the time spent in it. He ran his hands over the smooth leather of the steering wheel and briefly thought of all the times he had narrowly gotten away in this thing. Sydney watched in amusement from the passenger seat as Logan reverently ran his hands over every surface. 

He flipped the decorative air freshener that Sydney had hung from the rear view mirror before turning to her, “Sydney, this is amazing. I don’t know what to say.”

“It’s the least I could do. I know you said before that I would never owe you anything, but it doesn’t feel that way to me. I could never repay you for all the things you have done for me. This,” she gestured around, “is the least I could do.”

***

After driving across town to a neighborhood that was in the early stages of being able to be called “up-and-coming”, Sydney stood outside the tiny, one bedroom rental house that she had called home for the last two years. She hoped he would call it home too. They had already talked about where Logan would stay once he was released and he reluctantly agreed to let that be here with her. He wanted to be here with her, but didn’t want it to feel like something she had to do.

Logan quickly found out that that line of thinking was a mistake when he spent the rest of that visitation time answering teary questions like “how could you think that?” And “is this not what you want?” 

Inside the house, Sydney fluttered around giving him the grand tour and showing him where they kept everything from coffee to toothpaste. The idea of doing menial, everyday things again like making coffee felt both exciting and overwhelming. It was going to be a long road to decompress from prison life, but the rigid effects were already easing up slightly.

Sydney watched him roam around the room, curiously looking over every shelf and surface, “If you don’t like it here, my lease is up in a couple months. We could look for another place together.”

Logan did like it here, though. It felt very much like Sydney; it smelled like Sydney. He could imagine having breakfast in this kitchen and could picture exactly where they would set up a Christmas tree. 

“I like it.” He smiled at her. He wished he could he could say or do more, but being released felt like the end of a very long battle that had left him feeling numb and extremely tired. 

The silence hung between them for a few moments. It was odd for Sydney to try and wrap her head around having him here too. She was so excited and there were so many things she wanted to make up for.

“I bet there is so much you are looking forward to doing now that you’re out.” She could rattle off at least twenty things right now. 

“I’ve already kissed you and drove. Those things were pretty high on my list. There are only a few other things I’m looking forward to doing with clothes on.” His heart tightened in his chest at the way a blush peppered her cheeks.

“And with clothes off?”

Logan closed his eyes and let memories from two years ago take him away before coming back to the present, “There are too many things. Not enough things. Sydney, you’re all I’ve thought about day and night. I hated being in there away from you, not knowing if you are safe or if you needed anything. I hated not being able to touch you.” He ran his hands roughly over his face. “I don’t want that ever again. I promise I’m never going to do anything that would force me back there.” His voice grew increasingly frantic as he went on, desperate for her to understand. 

Sydney nodded trying to force her tears from becoming sobs as she stepped into his embrace.

***

“I’m really looking forward to taking a hot shower without four other guys being with me.” Logan laughed. 

“Do you want to take one now? The water pressure here is the best thing about the place.” She stood from the sofa where they had been catching up and extended a hand out to him.

Sydney led him to the bedroom and pulled open one of the drawers of the dresser. “I got you a few things to wear until you could go get some stuff on your own. Nothing too flashy, but I think I got the right sizes.”

He ran his hands over the clothes in the drawer feeling the soft fabrics that were heavy contrasts to the DOC issued clothes he was used too. There were too many options. Logan hesitated, staring at the clothes as they all blended together in his vision before just grabbing the first thing at hand. 

Sydney led him to the adjoining bathroom and showed him the crooked way you had to twist the cold water knob to get it to come on and where the towels were kept. 

“I got you some shampoo, but I’m not sure if it’s the right one. I stood in the shampoo aisle for an hour smelling them all until I found one that was familiar.” She was leaning against the doorframe making sure he had everything he needed before she left. 

Logan laughed at her effort, “I’m sure it’s perfect. Thanks, Sydney. For everything.”

“Any time, Logan.” She stepped out of the bathroom and hesitated before closing the door. It felt uncomfortable to not have him in sight after having just gotten him back. She wanted to sit by the door and wait for him. She wanted to check on him already. She wanted him to be done. But she knew he needed space.

Logan stood staring at his reflection in the mirror. He felt so out of place in the middle of the modestly decorated bathroom. He felt out of place everywhere. The shirt he was wearing hung awkwardly on his body. It had been supplied by the prison since the shirt he had on had to be cut from his body for the surgery. He took it off and threw it in the small garbage can by the door. 

His face paled in the mirror when he noticed the blood stains along the belt-line of his jeans. They were the same ones he had on that night. He needed them off. He frantically kicked them off, feeling trapped inside them for the entire ten seconds it took to rid them from his body. It felt like his breath was caught in his chest and he slid the floor to cradle his head in his hands until he could calm down. 

The fear of Sydney coming to check on him when she didn’t hear the water running gave him enough energy to get up and start the shower. Maybe the hot water would help. 

He spent the next thirty minutes letting the hot water work through the tension in his muscles. The steam from the water soothed his nerves as he breathed deep lungfuls of it in. When he finally came back out in the room, Sydney was already laying in bed reading something on her phone. She looked up with a warm smile once she heard the door click open. She slept on the side of the bed that he had hoped she would and after all this time she wanted him there beside her.


	5. Outtakes pt.2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More outtakes: set during the laundromat scene.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PB owns all this, and me. While writing Sanctuary, I ended up cutting a lot out that I felt maid the main three parts too wordy or clunky. I didn’t dislike those parts so I figured I would share them separately in case anyone was interested. Some of the scenes will feel disconnected because they are.

“Do you want to find out if you’re good in bed?” 

Logan choked on the sip he was taking from his drink, “Excuse me?” He managed the words through coughing fits.

Sydney held up a Cosmo magazine with a cheerful grin, “I’ll ask you the question and you answer!”

“Uh, I don’t know.” God, this is awkward.

“What else is there to do?” She gestured around at the empty laundromat that they were stranded in while their clothes dried. “You’re just afraid the quiz is going to tell you that you aren’t good.”

Logan bristled, taking the comment as a personal affront, “I think we both know that isn’t true.”

Sydney’s cheeks burned violently at memories that had gone unacknowledged between them up until now.

Logan grinned at her reaction and leaned against the table in her direction, “Unless I misread some of your…vocal cues back then?”

She bit her lip in an attempt to stop the smile from giving her away, “Let’s forget the quiz.” She dropped the magazine back on the table and reached for a copy of Better Homes & Gardens instead. 

***

“Do you want to race?” Logan took in the bored look on Sydney’s face and the way she checked the washing machine every two minutes only to be disappointed with the amount of time left each time. 

“Like a footrace?” She quirked her eyebrows at him.

“Definitely not,” he gestured with his chin at the abandoned carts on the other side of the room intended for laundry. 

“Want to make it interesting?” She was already standing and making her way to the carts.

Logan spun one around, testing the wheels out, “What do you have in mind?”

“Loser buys the winner a snack from the vending machine.” She postured herself next to him, exuding the confidence of a person that had won many laundry cart races in their past. 

He pretended to think it over for a moment before extending his hand to shake, “Deal.”

They established some rules and guidelines before lining up at the makeshift starting line. 

“We’ll go when the second hand reaches the twelve.” Sydney pointed to the clock on the wall before placing her hands on either side of the cart. 

Logan nodded and followed suit, “No cheating, Wheeler.”

“Like I need to..” Her grin created dimples on either side of her face that Logan could get lost in if the stakes weren’t so high. 

The clock ticked down….6…10…12.

They both took the allotted three steps before hopping in their respective carts and sailing across the tiled floor to the other side of the wall. Logan’s cart crashed into the wall first, jostling him against the side. Sydney’s followed close behind, crashing into the back of his with a bang. 

Their laughter echoed around the baron room as they painfully tried to unfold their limbs from the too small carts. 

“Still undefeated.” He teased as he offered Sydney a hand. 

“You can’t call yourself undefeated if there has only been one race.” 

“Sure I can. And I think it’s time for you to make good on that bet.” He turned her by the shoulders towards the vending machine. 

“Umm…” Sydney began to point out her obvious lack of money before Logan slid a couple dollars in her shirt pocket from where he stood behind her. 

“Surprise me.”


End file.
